Sales tax: Louisiana’s statewide sales tax rate fell from 5.0 to 4.45 percent on July 1 as lawmakers decided to extend a portion—but not all—of an expiring 1% on the sales tax, the Tax Foundation reports. Due to the change and a small reduction in local rates, the state no longer has the highest average combined rate in the country, narrowly edged out by Tennessee. Read the full report.
Greek Life: A committee tasked with implementing LSU President F. King Alexander’s Action Plan for Greek Life released its report today. The report comes after a task force recommended 28 items of change to reform the university’s policies for fraternities and sororities on campus and Alexander created an action plan based on the recommendations. Read the report.
No wait list: Secretary of Health Dr. Rebekah Gee announced Monday state has done away with the disability services waiting list, ensuring that every eligible person seeking some form of assistance received it. “At one point we had 16,000 families on our wait list,” Gee says. “We wanted to come up with something that was better than that. So we said, ‘Let’s fundamentally transform how we have families access disability services. Let’s get rid of the wait list.’” The new approach includes screening each person on the list and tailoring assistance to their individual needs, giving priority to the most urgent cases. See the announcement.
